M53,
mag. +8.0, is a distant
globular cluster positioned in the eastern part of the
constellation Coma Berenices. Located about 60,000
light-years from the galactic center and 58,000 light-years from Earth, it's one of the outlying globulars of the Milky Way. For comparison,
M13 is a mere 25,100 light-years distant.M53 was discovered by German astronomer Johann Elert Bode on February 3, 1775, who described it as a "rather vivid and of round shape" nebula.
The cluster was independently rediscovered by Charles Messier on February 26, 1777. When observing in 1781, he compared it to another recently discovered distant globular
M79. As with most globulars, it was William Herschel who first resolved M53 into stars, finding it similar in appearance to
M10.
This was imaged with #25 120 second light frames, less than 1 hour of data collection, in less than stellar seeing conditions. Despite this I feel that this rather dim glob looks pretty good!
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